As there are no other candidates other than my good friend Wilfred Cocx, I feel we can probably dispense with the vote. It is therefore my duty and my priveledge to announce that Wilfred Cocx is the new Party President of the Union of European Conservatives!

I wish him all the best, and I just know he will be spectacular in the job. Congratulations!

May I congratulate these two fine candidates. I wish I was in their place, but I am sure that they will do a good job. As our President said, we should now support them, and let us make sure they will do an even better job as Commissioners!

"We would oppose including a clause against immigration. We as a party have already expressed our opposition to multiculturalism and our support for the culture and traditions of our nations, and we would prefer to leave it to each nation to decide which immigration policy is best for its economy and its society. Moreover, the emphasis on extra-regional immigration suggests that we would support a pan-regional immigration policy - this would be incompatible with our principle of national sovereignty."

The last years have seen a constant decline in the power of our ideological family in Europe. The surge of a very dynamic centre-right party, the EFP, and the effective populist strategy of part of the left, the S&D, had lead to the very first Commission without any member who would be honestly considered as a conservative or a traditional right-winger.

But now, things can change. Our old europarties, the ECR and the EPP had taken an historical decision in deciding to forget decades-old rivalries to form a new, strongest, formation: the Union of European Conservatives. We have to move forward ideological labels and byzantine discussions about names or personalities. Europe needs us. Our nations need us. No matter if we consider ourselves as national conservatives, liberal conservatives, social conservatives, democratic christians or, even and why not, libertarians.

We have to focus in the values we all share. We all defend capitalism as the most perfect, fair and efficient economic system in history. We are all fiery defenders of the sanctity of life, against abortion or euthanasia. We all recognize the historical and cultural importance of religious values in the shaping of both national and european identities. We all want to see the defeat of international and national terrorism, without yielding to their sinister blackmail. Finally, we are all defenders of democracy and civil liberties.

I think that we are all aware enough about the effects of socialist and so-called progressive policies. The most efficient social policy is to give every citizen the option to have a job, by creating the best climate for companies to invest and create wealth. The path to full-employment is not to pamper workers, treating them like toddlers, it is to fuel their desire to compete and, even, to found their own company. Measures like minimum wage laws or welfare payments for not doing nothing leads to more unemployment, more poverty and, at long term, a default in public debt.

Socialism and euro-federalism tend to give the same remedies to different patients. But we are all different. Our nations come from different histories, economic backgrounds and traditions. It is ridiculous to think that one size fits all and that what works somewhere will do the same everywhere.

Emma Luque
President of the Partido Liberal
Leader of the Opposition
Former President of the Government